All of this to say, I am not aware of any significant influence on the development of my information literacy skills by school librarians. Significant influence by the libraries they maintained, yes, but directly by the librarians, not so much. I do have some clear memories of librarians helping me learn to find information; card catalogs, microfiche, and the like. Unfortunately, these are memories of the librarian in our county’s public library.

I feel I must give a nod to a slate of teachers I had (and my father, a high school English teacher) who contributed fantastically to my information literacy. I.e., my ability to find information, discern its value, and put it to proper use if called for.

The first thing that jumped out to me from the AASL Standards framework was the inclusion of Student Collaboration as one of the six, “Shared Foundations and Key Commitments.” This level of explicit emphasis on students solving problems and achieving goals together, is not common in educational standards in my experience. I am pleased to see this inclusion of Collaboration in the standards, and feel that librarians are well positioned to support this learning.

Another aspect to the AASL Standards that resonates with me is the inclusion of “Growth” as one of the four domains. Learning is a process and all that can be asked of the learner is that they make progress. That they grow. The emphasis on Reflection, seen in the standards, goes hand in hand with this process of learner growth. Librarians who follow this guidance, developing lessons that encourage and focus on growth and reflection, will often find student success close behind.